Guzrinn Kingdom: a small country in the middle of the continent, just slightly north of what would now be called Cotagerie. Few countries were still ruled by a monarchy, but of them, Guzrinn was the only one left that still followed a Chivalric Order. Knights from lowly squires all the way up to the Grand Star.
Jaid Luciri, a young woman of only 16, had already obtained the rank of Knight Commander despite her age. With the recent passing of the previous Grand Star, Opull Luciri, it was rumored that she would be next in line for the position. Still, she was far too young, far too inexperienced to hold such a rank, to lead the Order and Guzrinn to prosperity.
Even if the position was offered to her at this very moment, Jaid would likely decline. She was quite happy in her current role, the role she’d been specifically raised to fulfill since her birth. The rumors did make her a little uncomfortable, though, as if they were brushing aside everything her mother had done for this country. She knew they were only looking out for the country and its future, but it still felt too soon.
It had only been two months since Opull’s death, after all. Jaid had just about moved on from her mourning, never shirking a single one of her duties, but it still stung whenever her mother was referred to by others as if she was part of the past—to be forgotten.
Jaid slid out of her crude bed early in the morning. While it was a bit later than what she was used to, it was still far earlier than what most others would consider sane. Even given her morning routine, she’d still have more time to sleep if she desired, but she had a bit of work to finish.
Thanks to the late arrival of certain guests the previous evening, Jaid had been too tired to fulfill one of her most basic duties. She had been ordered by the king to record the daily life of her ward, Prince Lyke Guzmeir. Yesterday had been fairly typical, so it didn’t take long; the only event of note being the prince’s presence in greeting the aforementioned guests.
From there, Jaid closed the journal and stashed it away. She only needed to deliver the journal to the king once a month or if he specifically requested it on the odd occasion. Afterwards, she moved to her armoire and began the tedious process of adorning herself in her armor.
Jaid was currently staying in her childhood room. To aid in her ‘grieving’ after her mothers death, she’d been gifted her family home that her mother had been awarded after years of service. Well, to call it a home was a bit of a misnomer. It was a single storage room in one of the Guzrinn Castle towers that had been divided into what functioned as a tiny apartment.
It was small and humble, but it was one of the few residences in the castle proper besides the rooms for the royalty. Her mother’s room was a bit larger than her own, but Jaid had decided to stay in her old room for now. It was cramped and barely had any furniture, but it was nostalgic and comforting at least.
Once she was dressed, Jaid headed into the kitchen which also doubled as the main living area. She ate the same meal as she did every morning: a single bowl of nutritional gruel and a piece of fruit. It wasn’t much, but just because she was no longer living in the knight’s barracks, it didn’t mean she was going to abandon the lifestyle.
Jaid followed a strict regimen of diet and exercise, eating the same nutritious meals day in and out. They weren’t very flavorful, and Jaid could never say she ever even felt satiated, but it was part of her training and discipline.
The only time she ever broke from the norm was at the prince’s insistence—ordering her to eat delicacies that he’d been gifted. They were the ones he didn’t want, but wasn’t so curt as to dispose of directly. She also got a bit of variety on the rare opportunity when the prince requested her to help him sneak out of the palace for a bit of fun and junk food.
There was no TV to watch, so Jaid merely stared at the sword propped up in the corner as she ate. It belonged to her mother, and was more a work of art than a usable weapon. Resting on the hilt was the visor from her mother’s helmet. It was all that remained of her armor, since she’d been buried with the rest. The visor was quite ornate and had metal wings on either side like the warriors of Guzrinn legend.
If Jaid was ever promoted to Grand Star, that visor would be fitted into a helmet of her own. She’d never cared for helmets, always finding them stuffy and hated how much they reduced her visibility. Sure it made her more vulnerable, but Jaid would always remove her helmet at any available opportunity. It’d become so common for others to see her without it, that no one bothered to criticize her anymore for not wearing it around the castle.
Her mother on the other hand seemed to have an obsession with them. Ever since the harrowing mission that had awarded her the rank of Grand Star, she’d never removed her helmet again—not even in front of the king, not even in front of Jaid. It was after then that her mother had also started lugging that giant sword around, the Order believing she’d been granted strength from Cosmos himself.
Before she headed out, Jaid went over to the sword and ran her fingers along the visor. She then chanted a prayer, the same one she repeated every day. Jaid had never been particularly religious, but this prayer had been an Order tradition since its founding, and she wasn’t about to stray from it. “Goodbye mother. Wish me strength. Today is going to be a rough day.”
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Jaid headed down the tower, taking it one step at a time. It didn’t matter how strong or used to it she got, her armor was still overbearing and cumbersome to a degree. As she walked the halls, Jaid was saluted by every guard she passed. They’d always done so ever since she joined the Order, but lately there’d been a bit more enthusiasm to their gestures. Perhaps since she might be their superior one day, they were already trying to make a good impression.
“Didn’t expect to see you here, Worry,” Jaid addressed the knight standing watch at the prince’s door. Worretta had joined the Knight Order the same year as Jaid and was the closest thing she had to a best friend. It had only been a few days before Jaid had given her the nickname ‘Worry’ since that was all she made Jaid do.
“Yeah…” Worretta yawned and blinked sleepily back at Jaid, clearly not fit to actually be manning this post. “Things got all jumbled because of our guests, so we’re stretching to fill the regular guard shifts. Lucky for you, I volunteered to watch the prince. Wouldn’t want anyone sneaking into your boyfriend’s bedroom in the middle of the night.”
“You know it’s not like that,” Jaid unconsciously slid a hand to her hip, tired of hearing the same mocking for years now.
“Whatever you say, Gem.” An equally brilliant nickname given to Jaid from Worretta, since Jaid had been the star squire in their group; the gem among muck. “I’m heading to bed. Have fun with him while you still can~” Worry teased her as she marched away. Jaid grit her teeth, partially from the teasing, but more the truth behind those words.
After a deep breath, Jaid pushed the door open to the prince’s room. Normally, he’d still be fast asleep at this time, Jaid having to wake him morning after morning. It was something an attendant should be doing, but Prince Lyke didn’t care for others entering his room. Except for Jaid.
To her surprise, the prince was already awake. He was raised slightly, placing his weight on one arm. The top buttons of his shirt had come undone overnight and it was slightly slipping off his shoulder, exposing a good amount of bare skin and his collarbone. With that and the way the light from the window was shining down on him as he stared sleepily at—
Jaid shook her head to end her daydreaming, her own mind clearly not awake enough yet. How he looked wasn’t important at all to her duties, besides making sure he was presentable before he left the room. What was important was the phone he was staring at. Jaid grimaced at the sight of it.
Guzrinn was very behind the times when it came to technology, slow to adapt with how anti-traditional it all was. But change was coming steadily, just at a vastly reduced rate compared to the rest of the world. The prince probably had the most technology out of anyone in the country: a big TV with several video game consoles that most people around the castle wouldn’t even understand when they looked at it.
Technically, he wasn’t supposed to have them, since the general consensus was that they were still too flashy and would lead to violent children. The prince had snuck them back on their various outings they also weren’t supposed to take. As far as the prince was aware, even the king didn’t know, feeling pride in his stealthy handling of them.
But of course the king knew, since Jaid had included it all in her endless journal entries. In a way, that journal did feel like a bit of betrayal and a violation of privacy, but Jaid had been writing it for as long as she could remember, ever since she was a child. She and the prince had been raised together since they were old enough to walk. Her sole purpose in life was to become his shield until the end.
The journal never really bothered her since no negative action had ever come from it. Even though the king knew his son’s every step in life, he rarely did anything to try to change the prince’s path or mannerisms.
He knew about the video games, but never tried to confiscate them and never brought them up. But since they were still a secret, Jaid and Jaid alone had always been his player two, and always chose to lose every time they played something competitive. The prince never seemed to catch on, always as enthused to win each time as the last. And for Jaid, she didn’t care that she lost, only that the prince was happy with his victory.
As for the phone in his hand, that wasn’t actually a secret. Cell Phones were becoming more and more adopted in Guzrinn, but were still seen as extremely rude when used in front of others in public. The prince’s phone was meant to be used in emergencies only. Jaid also had one with the same stipulation. However, the two would regularly text back and forth, since Jaid was the only one the prince could confide in, the only one who he could express his true thoughts and feelings.
Jaid hadn’t received any texts this morning, so it raised the question of who exactly he was texting or what else he could be doing. Maybe their new guest from last night. It was an unpleasant thought that left Jaid feeling… What exactly was she feeling? Worry would certainly call it jealousy, but no, it couldn’t be that. Jaid only held the highest respect for the prince and his duties. Their relationship was purely platonic, nothing more than master and servant. That was all it would ever be.
Whatever feeling it was, it grew in agitation as Jaid greeted the prince and he tried to stuff away his phone to hide it. “Good morning sire. I’m glad to see you’re taking some initiative and waking up on your own. Now if only you’d be so serious in the rest of your endeavors.”
If anyone else overheard Jaid’s tone and disrespectful teasing, she’d never hear the end of it. But that was the relationship that the prince wanted between them. He’d never treated Jaid as his servant, only the dear friend he’d grown up with, and he wanted his friend to be crass with him as a friend should. Of course in public, their speech became as stiff as others expected it should be.
Prince Lyke mumbled some sort of greeting in return but it was barely audible. Jaid just smiled anyways and walked over to his wardrobe. If she let him pick out his own clothing, he’d be known as the Slob Prince within a day's time. Today’s attire required more thought since he had guests to impress. For a fleeting second, Jaid had a thought to pick wildly uncoordinated clothing and sabotage those impressions, but it vanished a mere moment later.